Fluoride treatment involves the application of fluoride to a tooth surface with the formation of fluorapatite and calcium fluoride.
There are two major in-office fluoride treatment methods currently in use. One treatment method uses a fluoride gel/foam in a tray. This method requires several grams of fluoride gel stored in a tray that is then placed into a patient's mouth onto the teeth. This tray is left in the mouth with the gel/foam in contact with the teeth for 1 to 4 minutes. The gel/foam formulation is an aqueous system that includes 2% sodium fluoride. This material requires the use of suction to pull the extra gel out of the mouth to avoid unnecessary high amounts of fluoride ingestion.
Another treatment method is a dental fluoride varnish. Most fluoride varnishes on the market are rosin/ethanol based formulations with a hydrophobic nature. The varnish is painted on the teeth and remains in place for several hours to allow for the fluoride to be released from the composition. Typically, dentists use fluoride varnishes for in-office fluoride treatment. Most dental fluoride varnishes include 5% sodium fluoride. The dose of varnish is about 0.5 gram. Dental varnishes place much smaller amounts of fluoride into a patient's mouth compared to fluoride gel/foams. Thus, fluoride ingestion is less with fluoride varnishes. Also, fluoride varnishes are easier to apply as they are simply painted on a patient's teeth; however, fluoride varnish treatments are more labor intensive than gel treatments and fluoride varnish treatments leave the patient with an unpleasant “dirty teeth” feeling.
Compositions that are as simple to apply to teeth as varnishes and work in time periods as short as gel/foam formulations are desired.